Appearing on HIGNFY
Have I got a nervous few hours to go? The hours before a recording of Have I Got News For You are stressful enough. If, that is, you can call mugging up on , and stressful.
The hours after recording and pre-transmission are, if anything, more so. Last night we recorded an hour and a half of television - which is at the lower end of the scale - but only half an hour will make it onto the air (a bit more on the extended Saturday night show and the vodcast). So, which bits will stay and which go?
On a previous appearance on HIGNFY I thought I'd been reasonable quick-witted, though never hilarious, throughout the recording. On air, I was merely humiliated for my bad rendition of "I'm just a poor boy... " on Children in Need, made one mediocre gag and then appeared to be mute for the rest of the time.
The programme makers are, of course, interested in what makes their audience giggle and not giving their guests their fair share of airtime. This gives someone in my position something of a dilemma. Can you be funny without crossing the line of what a ´óÏó´«Ã½ man should and shouldn't say?
My guess is that you'll hear me being indiscreetly rude about Home Improvement Packs and about a recent ´óÏó´«Ã½ News graphic (I've already apologised to my bosses). I may also be seen to reveal more than you might have wished to know about Mick Jagger. I do hope they don't use the bit when I .... Perhaps it's best, on second thoughts, if that stays on the cutting room floor.
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Comments
I would hope that the ´óÏó´«Ã½ would give you the greatest possible room for expression whilst you are appearing on an entertainment show. I would love to see more neutrality when you report politics, but 'have I got news for you' would be a perfectly reasonable venue for you express humour and let personal oppinions slip out.
Just as long as you did not contravene any FOI exclusions, Nick, I'm sure you'll be fine - a non-singing star in the making :)
Yes the programme makers are interested in what makes the audience laugh but also, I think, in making their regulars look good. If this is at the expense of the guests, I don't think they care. In fact, one way of boosting the regulars is to humilate or diminish the guests.
Dreadful punchline, if you call call it that Nick.
That's the risk you take in presenting HIGNFY. It's quite make or break; if you survive it's well worth it. I have no doubt your performance was exemplary Nick, and am very much looking forward to it.
In the immortal words of Catherine Tate..whatever.
BTW these politicians on Facebook, apparently Brown, Blears and Johnson are all my 'friends'. Are they real (hope so as it is a really interesting way of relating to the public and gaining trust) and not some snotty-nosed researcher taking a break from second-life.
Also can you ever see Gordon Brown do the kind of Children in Need stuff Blair did? Bet he'd be hilarious...eh, yeh, no doubts!
Get used to it, Nick: I had to.
I actually thought you were great on your first appearance on HIGNFY Remember you're not viewed as a comedian by us mere mortals, so anything you say on television that isn't followed by '...Nick Robinson, ´óÏó´«Ã½ News, Whitehall' will probably sound hilarious. And the fact that you aren't wearing a tie will make what you're saying much more amusing, if it's an consolation.
At any rate, you haven't been arrested in a curry house this week so I think you'll be fine, and your reputation will still be intact at 9.30 this evening.
Ah Nick, you did fine, even though you struggled to keep up with Merton at times. He's as fast a shark, although that may be down to editing. At least he came across as a slightly ill educated xenophobe with a poor palate on his Chinese trip on tv last week and you are frequently erudite, even while live! It really is all down to the editing after all...
well i unfortunately missed it last night nick but i wil catch it tonight- the guests are always cut out quite a lot- mainly to make room for paul mertons mad stories! Is that really ian hislop above nick?
"The programme makers are, of course, interested in what makes their audience giggle and not giving their guests their fair share of airtime."
Interesting point Nick and one I can totally emphasise with. Its something the smaller parties such as mine have to contend with all the time from editors and journalists. :-)
just watched the rerun nick you did well- clearly you are the only one to read about mick jaggers 'diminutives'!
I was in the audience and I was pleasantly surprised about how much you actually let loose.
Although it probably would've been too much of a risk for the Beeb to put out what you said about a certain rolling stone and a tube full of bees.
You did ok, Nick. Leave the hilarity to Merton and Hislop.
I enjoy your reports Nick but unfortunately I missed your appearance on HIGNFY. I am pleased to see that the comments you're publishing here are not sycophantic. Good on you!
Nick, you can take great comfort from a comparison to Adam Boulton's recent appearance. Now he really did get the mickey taken out of him mercilessly (I suspect you watched it but for those who didn't, it was an endless list of political attendees at his wedding) but his contribution lacked your incisive (if strangely) detailed knowledge of the private habits of mega pop stars. Perhaps he is saving those for his diaries.
(ps - Can't he ´óÏó´«Ã½ afford to give you your own blog spot as AB get's ? Or are you feared as being larger than the ´óÏó´«Ã½ news machine? Or perhaps you just aren't Blair enough)